1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper currency receiving system for use in a ticket vending machine, money exchange machine, or the like and, more particularly to such a paper currency receiving system, which comprises a paper currency take-up unit, a paper currency storage cabinet installed in the paper currency take-up unit, a motor-driven paper currency holding down mechanism installed in the paper currency take-up unit controlled to set collected paper currency in a stack inside the paper currency storage cabinet, and a transmitter receiver module adapted to detect the amount of collected paper currency.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of ticket vending machines have been disclosed, and intensively used in parking lots, stations, public facilities for receiving paper currency and vending tickets. FIGS. 9, 10, and 11 show a paper currency receiving system used in a conventional ticket vending machine. The paper currency receiving system is generally comprised of a paper currency take-up unit adapted for taking up inserted paper currency, the paper currency take-up unit having a paper currency insertion slot and a paper currency transferring mechanism, a paper currency verification unit adapted for verifying the authenticity of inserted paper currency, and a paper currency storage cabinet adapted for collecting verified paper currency. When paper currency inserted through the paper currency insertion slot to the paper currency transferring mechanism in the paper currency take-up unit, the paper currency verification unit verify the authenticity of received paper currency. When verified, the paper currency transferring mechanism is started to transfer accepted paper currency to a paper currency holding down mechanism in the paper currency take-up unit. The paper currency holding down mechanism uses a motor to rotate an eccentric block, causing the eccentric block to move a follower plate into the paper currency storage cabinet to hold down received paper currency. This design of paper currency holding down mechanism is still not satisfactory in function. Due to limited contact area between the eccentric block and the follower plate, the follower plate may not be kept in balance when moved, thereby causing the received piece of paper currency to be wrinkled or jammed. Because much torsional force is needed to drive the eccentric block to move the follower plate, the motor bears much load during its operation, resulting in short service life. Further, this design of paper currency receiving system has no means to detect the amount of received paper currency. The worker must regularly visually check the paper currency storage cabinet to see if the paper currency storage cabinet has been in full or not. It is inconvenient to check the paper currency storage condition of the paper currency storage cabinet visually.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a paper currency receiving system, which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. According to one aspect of the present invention, the paper currency receiving system comprises a paper currency take-up unit adapted for taking up paper currency inserted therein, a paper currency storage cabinet mounted in the paper currency take-up unit to collect paper currency, and a paper currency holding down mechanism installed in the paper currency take-up unit and controlled to hold down inserted paper currency onto a spring-supported bearing plate in the paper currency storage cabinet. According to another aspect of the present invention, the paper currency holding down mechanism comprises a motor, a transmission gear train, a linkage, and a rack set driven by the motor through the transmission gear train to move the linkage in an out of the paper currency storage cabinet for setting collected paper currency in a stack. According to still another aspect of the present invention, a transmitter receiver module is provided inside the paper currency storage cabinet to detect the amount of collected paper currency and, to automatically cut off power supply when a predetermined amount of paper currency collected in the paper currency storage cabinet.